So I promised Marc I'd write about "collective personality" and he reminded me the other day that I hadn't yet got around to it ... so here it is.
I'm finding that my current location radiates a far more political ambiance than what I experienced in my home town, or even in my last residence for that matter. Everything revolves around government and crown corporations. It all gives the city and population a whole different feel ... a different collective personality.
I have found that the details I quote below are simple reformulations, and perhaps more concise illustrations, of the concepts that have been taking shape in my conscious up until now. I found it a fascinating journey to discover the writings of Gilbert, Weber and others as they reflected my own understanding of the world. I suppose that these sociologists have done exactly what it is they were supposed to do -- observe the world, the creatures in it, how they interact and sum it all up in a theory for the rest of us. [Duh! sociology: the systematic study [science] of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings]
Speaking of collective belief, Margaret Gilbert has offered [that] individuals who together collectively believe something need not personally believe it themselves.
In her book, On Social Facts, Gilbert refers to another sociologist, Max Weber. He writes in Economy and Society, "for sociological purposes, there is no such thing as a collective personality which acts." Perhaps trying to get at the concept of responsibility lies on the part of the whole rather than the whole of parts, i.e. on the individual member of a group, not the group as a whole?
On the other hand Emile Durkheim (Rules of Sociological Methods) eludes to the attributes of the collective; "there are ways of acting, thinking and feeling which possess the remarkable property of existing outside the consciousness of the individual... Not only are these types of behaviour and thinking external to the individual, but they are endured with a compelling and coercive power by virture of which ... they impose themselves upon him. ... I am not forced to speak French with my compatriots, nor use the legal currency, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise."
So what does this all mean for my initial concept of collective personality. Well, just like my number theory "discovery", my collective personality "discovery" (or coinage of a new phrase to represent my convoluted concept) is more of a rediscovery ... a realization of an already discovered fact. While awfully exciting and facinating in the beginning, the novelty wears off as I dig deeper. Notice I said the novelty wears off ... the interest in the new subject matter tends to linger on.
As a relative outsider to my new social construct, I have the opportunity to be unimposed upon by the ways of being my new enviroment presents. Undoubtably, I have already (i.e. slowly but surely) influenced by the way of being: a new awareness of government; understanding a singular versus economically diverse culture; supporting (and speaking no ill towards) the sole sporting team.
When one moves frequently, does such adaptation and/or assimilation become easier ... are skills gained to 'fit in' more extensively and with less delay? Or, does one develop a resistance to such change? Are individual beliefs and values altered, modified, repressed, affirmed, or strengthened with resettlement? Have we developed individual attributes that allow one to withstand or incorporate the values of the new collective personality?
Have you determined your own labels, such that when you have new labels 'presented' you are able to easily accept or reject them? Or, do these labels from other throw our internal world into chaos and leave a trail of hurt, anger, frustration, brokenness, turmoil, and confusion?
Do you know who you are?